Tencent doubles stake in Ubisoft with $421 million investment, stabilises developer’s future

The march of Tencent to become a bigger player in the gaming space continues, as Ubisoft has announced a €300 million (S$421 million) investment by the Chinese giants into the publisher of Assassin’s Creed and other blockbuster games.

The news comes via a press release shared by Ubisoft CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot.

“The expansion of the concert with Tencent further reinforces Ubisoft’s core shareholding around its founders and provides the company with the stability essential for its long-term development.” said Guillemot.

This business relationship between Tencent and Ubisoft will see the former provide the latter with a “long-term unsecured loan’ to refinance debt, as well as additional financial resources that “can be sued to acquire equity in Ubisoft.”

“In a context where platforms and business models are converging, this transaction, which validates our strategy and highlights the strong intrinsic value of the assets we have built overthe long term, is excellent news for our teams, gamers and shareholders.

Tencent is a key shareholder partner for many of the industry’s leaders, who have created some of the most outstanding video games. This transaction reinforces our ability to create strong value over the coming years,” the CEO added.

However, the ownership remains firmly in the hands of the Guillemot family, with Tencent not having any consent or veto rights over the business side of things at Ubisoft.

This move by the Chinese corporation comes after it had increased its stakes in Japanese studio From Software along with Sony.

It remains to be seen just where else Tencent will explore in its bid to expand its gaming portfolio following this investment, and what gamers can expect moving forward.

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